Atkins Diet for Seizures

Modified Atkins Diet for Seizures - New Forum

2012-01-11T08:36:00.001-08:00

We've added a forum to our website.

For years we have followed the forum on the Yahoo Groups page that was titled "Atkins4Seizures". The moderator has now "frozen" that forum, as he is moving on to other projects. The forum can still be read - and there are over 25,000 posts! - however there can no longer be any new posting.

To help fill the void, we've added a forum to our website here:

http://atkinsforseizures.com/forum/

Michael

New Atkins for Seizures Website

2007-12-30T15:56:00.000-08:00

Please see the new site to compliment Atkins for Seizures main website.

This is a Lens on Squidoo and can be found Here

This site is more interactive, allowing for easy sharing of recipes and experiences. It also addresses some questions that I've received from my ebook. Please take a look!

Thanks,

Michael

My New Book is Finished!

2007-05-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to announce my book is complete and available for download on my website!

Read about "Atkins For Seizures", the book, here:

http://www.atkinsforseizures.com/story.html

Michael

New Articles, Stories, ect

2006-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all the positive feedback everyone is sending!

I've added a couple articles on music and seizures to the articles' section (see link above). Also, a family contributed their story from Norway. You can read it here: Personal Story on Diet.

I am gradually removing all the old 'bravenet' mailing list links from the subfiles, and we've had about 50% of the old mailing list resubscribe so far. Great progress, and I appreciate everyone's cooperation. Hopefully we are getting more delivered mail and fewer 'spam' captures.

Michael

Atkins Site Overhaul

2006-12-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

The website has been long overdue for an update! The overhaul has begun. Here are some of the changes already made:

1) New list server for the Newsletter/mailing list - requires that everyone REJOIN the list as of December 8th, 2006. Too many people not getting the recipes and updates.

2) Advertising moved to the side and bottom of most pages. The hosting and aministration of the site is entirely paid for by these ads - plus they bring content to the site that hopefully is of benefit to some of our visitors. However, having them 'floating' in the text is a little distracting.

3) The new keto book, co-written by Dr. Kossoff is featured through out the site. Excellent resourse! Click on the link on this page - and read the reviews on Amazon.

4) A third study written by Dr. Kossoff regarding the effectiveness of the Atkins Diet for Epilepsy has been posted in the "Johns Hopkins Studies" page.

5) A couple of the broken links, and 'under construction' pages have been either eliminated or completed.

Enjoy!

Michael

Publicity for Atkins for Seizures

2005-12-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

Dr. Kossoff made a presentation this past weekend, releasing the results officially of the study that Brooklyn participated in. From what I understand, he used a power point presentation and even gave a couple screen shots of our website! (Atkins For Seizures) Wow - we are flattered.

It is my dream/hope that children with epilespy all over the world will have the atkins diet as an alternative approach to controlling their seizures.

If you do a little google search - you will find all kinds of articles on the presentation. Here are a few I've read:

(Article)

(Another Article)

(Yet Another)

(And Another)

(More)

(Can you Believe It?)

(We are Famous!)

(Getting the Idea?)

(Wow)

(One More)

Michael

Mercury Poisoning

2005-11-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's visit to our Biofeedback/Homeopath was interesting! We've been focusing the past six weeks on an homeopathic approach to removing the mercury from Brooklyn (versus the traditional chelation approach). She tested 'positive' for mercury on our last visit - on this visit she continues to.

We never would have suspected mercury, had we not stumbled on the Generation Rescue website. Of course, this may not be the solution for Brooklyn's epilepsy - but we have learned the following:

Brooklyn has higher than acceptable levels of mercury in her body
Mercury can cause neurological disorders
The Mercury can be removed

So we can be hopeful right?

The Atkins for Seizures Diet has been a huge blessing for us. We are medicine free and have better seizure control than we ever had with Lamictal, Depakote, Zarontin, etc. But we continue to search for the 'cure'....

Michael

New Blog - Refocus on Atkins!

2005-10-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, Okay, it is time to get back on topic! If you've followed this blog since the begining - you know it was the drawing board to help develop the website: Atkins for Seizures One of the real concerns at the outset was how to support the site financially. As a result, there have been posts here regarding 'work from home', 'adsense', etc.

However, this site seems to be getting just as much traffic or more than the actual Atkins for Seizures site - so I feel it is time to focus in fairness to my audience.

To cover the financial side of things, I've created a new blog: "Honest Work from Home"

This will allow me to sharpen the focus of this blog to how we can help our children through the Atkins for Seizures protocol. Please visit, bookmark and link to these blogs - every little bit helps with the search engine rankings! This in turn makes it easier for the next family to find Atkins for Seizures

Michael

Blog Comments; Adsense; and Traffic

2005-10-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

If you have a blog, you've no doubt noticed all these 'comments' appearing. They something generic like "I saw your site. It's cool. Check out mine".

While it would be nice to think these people ACTUALLY came to your blog, in reality, there are some software programs out there that post these automatically to tens or even hundreds of blogs. Why you may ask? Simple. All these comments include a link back to the commenter's site. Search engines then spider their sites, see all the links from external sites and grant them a higher ranking.

One of the biggest advantages of more traffic to your site - especially if its a blog - is the increased opportunity to earn money from Google Adsense. If you own website, you might consider hosting some adsense. A little daily revenue from click throughs doesn't hurt anybody!

Naturally, many of these 'comments' point to sites heavy in Adsense. Some of them provide tips on how to increase your adsense revenue. Most are niche sites that contain content designed to attrack higher paying Google Asense keywords.

There is nothing bad or offensive about these ads from my point of view. After all, visitors to a subject specific site will find ads about that the same subject - possibly adding to the content the website host has provided.

My Friend an Author!

2005-10-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

"Who Else is You" is a book about Identity Theft. A book written by my good friend Cindy Graham. I realize this has nothing to do with Epilepsy - but it has everything to do with our life. All my life I've dreamed of writing a book. From the moment Cindy made the decision until she had the book in print - it was less than six months!

The inspiration this has provided me is incredible. It just goes to show you that you really can do whatever you set your mind to do!

Check out her book on Amazon:

See it here on Amazon!

Michael

New Section of Website

2005-09-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have had a considerable amount of interest in our 'work from home' comments that we put on the website. I don't want to distract from the nature of Atkins For Seizures - but to help answer the questions I've been getting I've set up a new thread of pages on the site.

You won't find these in the menu - as the primary focus of the site is helping epileptic families, however, when I do mention Our Story - I've linked to the the added information. I hope this information further helps families.

The new webpages are titled:

As always - comments are welcome!

Adsense Income

2005-09-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about Google's adsense program? It is a great concept for both website administrators and advertisers. I'm sure you've noticed the 'ads from google' on the internet everywhere (I have them just to the right here & also my site Atkins for Seizures).

Here is how it works: Google places paid ads on my site. The google spiders actually read my website, figure out which ads would be similar in content, and places the ads on the page. The result is increased content for the visitor, exposure for the advertiser, and income for the website everytime someone clicks on an ad!

If you have a website - you should consider getting an adsense account. Visit here to learn more.

The reports that google provides gives you information such as: number of impressions, number of clicks, and how much they pay for the click. For example, I can see at a glance that over the past 90 days, I've averaged 51 cents per click on the adsense 'google ads'. The fact that people click on them is proof that the google technology of providing relevant ads really works.

Michael

Back to Work

2005-09-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a busy summer. We just got back from our one year anniversary visit to Johns Hopkins and Dr. Kossoff. It appears we will be staying on the diet for at least one more year.

The website is getting regular traffic. It is amazing how this has come together! There will be more publicity soon as Dr. K is giving a presentation in DC about the findings of the study & possibly there will be an article shortly thereafter publishing the results of the study.

So it is time to get to work! I need to polish up the site - work out a few bugs - and add some new content. Anything you would like to see? Let me know...

I am behind in my ebook - but hope to get back to it in the next 30 days.

Michael

The Atkins Diet: A Promising Treatment for Intractable Epilepsy (article)

2005-06-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

New article posted! "The Atkins Diet: A Promising Treatment for Intractable Epilepsy"
Jenna Martin, Senior EditorEpilepsy.com. Visit http://atkinsforseizures.com/theatkinsdiet.html to read.

Can Atkins Diet help with Epilepsy? (article)

2005-06-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

We have a new article posted on www.atkinsforseizures.com. It is titled "Can Atkins Help Kids With Epilepsy?" Early Research Suggests It Might Reduce Seizures, and Adults May Benefit, Too By Salynn BoylesWebMD Medical News. Read it Here: http://atkinsforseizures.com/canatkinshelpkids.html

Hurray! The site is up

2005-05-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

A huge thank you to Jen and Terry (both of whom I've never met in person) for walking me through this project and design! I have to admit that just starting this blog was stretching my online capabilities - so putting together a website was out of the question.

Of course, the work has just begun. I hesitate to tell anyone about the site, so that they don't just view an unfinished product and never come back. On the otherhand, this is a great motivator.

Dr. Kossoff of Johns Hopkins has been extremely supportive of the idea. He contributed his pdf format report on the initial study (which somehow I had never read before). He sent recipes, advice on content, and put me in touch with the Atkins people. Of course we are not affiliated with Johns Hopkins or Atkins, but both have graciously allowed links to their sites (which I'm working on..)

Sooo - Check it out! http://www.atkinsforseizures.com

Michael

My Mission

2005-04-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

After four years and six different anti-seizure medications that didn't help our daughter Brooklyn, we discovered the Atkins Diet for Seizures via Johns Hopkins. Seven months later and Brooklyn has approximately 15 seizures a day - down from 100. While Atkins will not work for everybody, I believe it is an approach that needs to be made known. I have reserved some domain names and am planning a resource website. My initial webmap:

* Home - Atkins for Seizures
* Recipes
* Resources - books, low carb suppliers
* Our Story
* Media - news on Atkins Diet, Epilepsy, etc
* Epilepsy in History
* Faces of Epilepsy - contributed stories and pictures
* Keto Diet - general summary & links
* Charities - organizations that provide assistance to epileptics
* Blog
* Art for Epilepsy - fund raising; also a forum to publish art by epileptics
* Alternative Approaches to Healing - links & articles (Keto, glucose levels, implants, surgery)
* Links - medicine reviews, epilepsy centers, hotlines

Please review and respond with ideas!

Michael

Johns Hopkins and the Atkins Diet

2005-04-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

August of 2004, Brooklyn had a particularly bad reaction to the newest drug we were trying. (Why does it seem like we are experimenting on our daughter?) In desperation, we contacted our neurologist, Dr. Nay, out of Denver. He had just returned from a seminar and recommended we try something very new...

Three weeks later, I found myself in Baltimore, Maryland with my daughter. Johns Hopkins was conducting a study, and looking for 20 children. The children had to have at least three seizures per week, and had to have failed several primary medications. We qualified and Brooklyn became number 13 in the study. Dr. Kossoff, the lead investigator, met with us and so began an adventure in learning and seizure control beyond what we had ever experienced.

Now, seven months later, Brooklyn is drug free. She has approximately 15 seizures per day, and we have hope that this will improve even more. The study is complete with dramatic results for most of the other 19 children (some seizure free) and we are looking forward to some official publication. Dr. Kossoff has taken what he learned from our children and is now conducting a second study - this time with 50 children.

Our journey has included the answers to these questions and more:

Is this truely an Atkins Diet?
How do we keep our growing child from losing/gaining too much weight?
How do we keep her interested in eating a restricted diet?
What are hidden carbs?
Are Atkins products okay for Brooklyn?
What are Ketones?
Do they suppress seizures?
What is an appropriate Ketone level?
What about kidney stones?
How do we manage high cholesterol?
What do we send for school lunch?
What suppliments should Brooklyn have in addition to the diet?
Where can we find recipes?

Now that the word is starting to get out, there is a need for accurate information for families that are interested in this approach. It is important to realize this is a big project, and not one to be embarked on without guidance. It is NOT a good idea to just buy the Atkin's book and start the diet. The credibility and guidance of a neurologist and dietician will help you through some expected rough spots. Of help to us has been an online community on the yahoo boards run by one of the families in the study. It is "Atkins4seizures". This group and its moderator has provided tremendous emotional support for us. It has also been a terrific place to exchange recipes, food allergy ideas (seizure triggers), etc. As with all online communities it is occasionally the source of misunderstandings and hurt feelings. It is important to remember that these are families trying to help their children - not doctors with the associated qualifications. That said, this close knit group of people are heros in this story.

Michael

Our Daughter's Story

2005-04-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

We noticed Brooklyn's seizures when she was two and a half years old. Her initial EEG showed absense seizures every 60 seconds, awake or sleeping. The seizures lasted anywhere from 2 seconds to 12 seconds. We were obviously distressed!

We could find no cause. MRI and EEG could not pinpoint a source. The seizures appear generalized. We tried Zarontin, Depakote, Lamictal and several others. As the years go by, her seizure pattern seems to slow down a little (giving us hope that she may outgrow them?). At six and a half years, her EEG shows seizures every five minutes. Some are very short. Some lasting up to 18 or 20 seconds. We estimate a hundred visible seizures daily. Brooklyn starts first grade.

Any parent will understand the emotional trama we've gone through. We had one doctor that (erroneously) told us that every seizure was leaving scar tissue behind in her brain. There was the time she had a seizure at the top a children's slide, lost her balance and fell off; the time she made an abrupt left turn while walking in a crowd of people and we couldn't catch up; her classmates yelling at her and shaking her to 'snap her out of it'; the time she was speaking into a microphone and had a seizure and the crowd erupted into laughter... Yet through this all, she has remained a bright and happy child. We are proud to be her parents.

Michael

Sponsorship

2005-04-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

It is my goal to have this be a self sustaining site from a financial point of view, after seeking out some initial sponsorships. Of course, this blog is just the drawing board for the ultimate site. I've registered www.atkinsforseizures.com as the address for the new site.

I am looking for three classes of sponsors:

Advertisers:

"Epilepsy is the world's second most prevalent neurological disorder, which is characterized by recurrent seizures. There are twice as many people with epilepsy than the combined number of people with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and cystic fibrosis. Epilepsy can develop in a person of any age, although it is most common during the childhood and senior years" - according to http://www.xycorpmed.com/en/epilepsy.phtml

A website dedicated to a new approach to this disease should get tremendous traffic. I am seeking sponsors that are interested in their name included on our pages. This will be a professional website & will require some expense in the technological/talent department to set up and maintain.

Charities/Foundations:

Numerous organizations exist to promote medicine and health. Many are dedicated to people suffering from epilespy. Others are targeted toward research, alternative medicine, etc. I believe that a few dollars here will go a long way to benefit people the world over as we get the word out regarding this unique, new therapy for seizures.

Personal donations:

I have set up a paypal account dedicated to "Atkins for Seizures". You can access it with the button on the right, in the link section.

Any donation will be appreciated. $2 or $3 dollars through paypal will add up!

How will the money be used? The bulk of the cost for this site will be the initial hosting and design. I also will be doing some advertising - though I hope word of mouth will help. Some 'seed' money will be needed for a couple of the projects designed to make this a self sustaining site (see my next entry "Sustainability").

Sustainability

2005-04-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

It is my hope this project will become self funding after the initial set up phase. As the income grows, we will be in a position to give money to assist people with epilepsy. A few areas of expected income from our website are:

* Individual donations (a few dollars through paypal is quick and painless)
* Adsense income from Google
* Book sales - Amazon affiliate - we will be providing a must have book list for people who are going to try Atkins for Seizures
* Art for Epilepsy - sales on site, and off-site. We have a couple international artists (one bronze & one oil) who will be providing an edition work for the benefit of Atkins for Seizures. We also plan to expand this to include art by epileptics.

As always, I am looking for input.